Black puer, known in China as "ripe puer", originated in 1973. It was a new way to develop the smooth, mellow, earthy taste of naturally-aged green puer, without having to wait for years. Black puer is not the same as black tea, because black puer is not baked, and is low in caffeine. Our black puer and green puer are made with the same hand-picked, sun dried, pesticide-free puer tea leaves, but are processed differently. By accelerating the aging process, the black puer develops an extremely smooth, mellow, earthy flavor with a slight sweet aftertaste.

Black and green puer tea are different from all other teas in that high temperatures are not used to make them. This allows certain beneficial microbes to live. The microbial aging process continues long after the tea leaves the factory. Black puer tea improves with age up to 25 years.

More information about black puer tea is contained in our "Learn More" section and in our slideshow.

Shop for black puer by selecting a subcategory of black puer using the menu on the left or click on the photo below to see all black puer.